You are cordially invited to UNAM Nanocolloquium seminars focusing on advancements in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology. The seminars bring us the most recent developments in these exciting fields.

The first talk of this spring term will be presented by Dr. Annette Taylor*

ABSTRACT –
Recently there has been an increasing interest in the coupling of biocatalytic or bio-based feedback with materials, inspired by emergent behavior in natural systems. Here we discuss our efforts in the exploitation of enzyme-catalyzed reactions that display switches in pH to create time-lapse polymerisation or hydrogels; “cure-on-demand” constant speed gel fronts and timed gel degradation. We show how enzymes can be used for ultrasensitive sensing when encapsulated in gel beads or vesicles and for self-organization in mineral formation. These bioinspired processes may provide insights into behaviour in cellular systems such as bacteria as well as new methods for drug delivery, sensing and repair that can be exploited in living systems.
1)G Ashkenasy, TM Hermans, S Otto, AF Taylor Systems chemistry. Chemical Society Reviews 2017, 46, 2543-2554. 2) AF Taylor Chemistry: Small molecular replicators go organic Nature 2017, 537, 627-628. 3) E Jee, T Bansagi, AF Taylor and J Pojman Temporal Control of Gelation and Polymerization Fronts Driven by an Autocatalytic Enzyme Reaction Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 2127-2131 4) F Muzika, T Bansagi, I Schreiber, L Schreiberova, AF Taylor A bistable switch in pH in urease-loaded alginate beads. Chem. Comm. 2014, 50, 11107-11109.
About the Speaker:
Dr Annette Taylor is Senior Lecturer in Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Sheffield. She obtained a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Leeds and was later RCUK Fellow then Senior Lecturer at Leeds, and Visiting Professor at the University of West Virginia and Lousianna State University. She moved to Sheffield in 2014 to pursue applications in reaction engineering, with particular interest in the design and optimisation of autocatalytic reaction networks in non-equilibrium materials, devices or sensors.
*Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Sheffield
** Refreshment will be served at 15:40